Monday's Menu

There is great rejoicing the Born Blonde household this month! The reason is simple -- processed cheese.  Not that I bought any but rather that I MADE it!

One of the things that has been most missed in our home since changing to real food is processed cheese -- the kind known by it's brand name that comes in blocks: Velveeta.

It wasn't missed on sandwiches. I've been getting actual, real, live slices of cheddar to replace our sandwich slices. The kids and husband like that.

It has been missed because of one recipe -- macaroni and cheese. In the post about it, I talked about taking a Wilton sheet cake pan (like double a 9x13 pan) full to a Scout party and how it was gone before anyone but my son got any. It's some good stuff!

So I can understand the mourning over it's loss. But I simply couldn't find any good real food substitute. I've also tried several recipes for baked mac and cheese as well real food in-the-saucepan mac and cheese. None have been very good. I found one that was deemed acceptable but it is basically a white sauce with cheese added that is then poured over cooked macaroni.

So I've been holding them off with organic boxed mac and cheese. Until now.

There are actually a LOT of recipes for homemade 'Velveeta' out there. A surprising number. The first one I tried was not great. Which is why I only made half a recipe of this one. It however was just the ticket. It looked like Velveeta. It had the same creamy texture too. And it worked in our mac and cheese. Yayyy!

I tried making some cheese dip as well. It doesn't melt down to the same smooth texture but it did taste good. I probably will only be making it to use for our macaroni from here on out though so that really isn't an issue for me.

I would like to find some way to get rid of the dry milk powder. I've read a lot of stuff about such things at this point and I think I would rather use something else. I successfully changed the macaroni recipe over to liquid milk so I know I can.

But I was truly just so happy to have a recipe that worked that I figured I'd suck it up and use it until then.

The recipe originally came from  Brown Eyed Baker and can be found here.

Homemade Velveeta Cheese

1 Tablespoon (1/4 oz. packet) unflavored gelatin
6 Tablespoons dry milk powder
1 cup boiling water
16 oz. mild cheddar cheese, shredded

Line a small loaf pan with plastic wrap, covering sides and leaving excess hanging over.
Place gelatin and dry milk powder in food processor. Drizzle boiling water in while pureeing. Add cheddar cheese and puree until smooth.
Immediately pour into prepared pan scraping sides of processor bowl and smoothing top of cheese loaf. Fold over excess plastic wrap, pressing it on top of cheese and ensuring that it is completely covered. Refrigerate 12 hours until set. Keep tightly wrapped in refrigerator for up to 1 month.